A flamboyant Charles Baudelaire, French poet and time-hopping traveler, has arrived in the present-time United States to lecture about his American literary colleague E. A. Poe with a 8mm film projector, a popular form of film projection invented in the 20th century. With the help of Techne, the Goddess of Technology, Baudelaire projects scenes from Poes life on stage, blurring the boundary between what is real and what is imagined. Fictional scenes from Poe’s stories cross fade into factual events from Poe’s life in New York-such as when Virginia, his young wife, dies of tuberculosis. As Baudelaire continues his lecture, his desire to meet Poe and his regret at never being able to talk to him in person (Poe died in 1849) deepens and brings Baudelaire to a point of despair. Techne (goddess of technology) helps Baudelaire to realize that he can use a new modern technology to bring Poe back to life, and magically, Baudelaire brings Poe on stage. Poe wavers between the living and the dead and finally crosses over to the land of the living. The two greet each other and sit down to discuss their ideas of philosophy and art.